One Los Angeles city councilman, now out of office, admitted last week that he accepted envelopes of cash from a businessman in casino bathrooms. [...]
Yet another council member allegedly sought a $500,000 cash bribe from a real estate developer, according to a plea deal struck between federal investigators and a political fundraiser who admitted collecting much of the money in a paper bag.
— Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times reporters David Zahniser and Emily Alpert Reyes shed light on the growing number of municipal corruption scandals in Los Angeles. A probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigations has revealed the degree to which real estate development plays a role in feeding “pay-to-play”... View full entry
“I feel like I am atoning for some of what I did,” says Yasmeen Lari with an embarrassed chuckle. “I was a ‘starchitect’ for 36 years, but then my egotistical journey had to come to an end. It’s not only the right of the elite to have good design.” — Yasmeen Lari, in The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright talks with Yasmeen Lari, who was named the 2020 Jane Drew Prize laureate earlier this year. She looks back on her architectural career, which began with designing glitzy corporate monuments and then switched to humanitarian work after the devastating 2005 Pakistan... View full entry
Over the course of six years, OPEN Architecture transformed five decommissioned aviation fuel tanks into a vibrant contemporary art center and public park. Overlooking the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River, the art center has attracted hoards of visitors and large cultural events since opening in... View full entry
I find it interesting that theaters are so resilient. They can have many lives. [...] For architects, set design can be a lesson in the fact that nothing is permanent. Permanence can be a little restricting, it turns out. Theater isn’t permanent. It exists when there is an audience. — David Rockwell in The New York Times
Michael Kimmelman shares an interview with architect David Rockwell, who talked about some of his favorite historic Broadway theaters in NYC while the two went on a walk recently. Rockwell talks about the influence that theater had for him as a child, a few theater design projects his firm worked... View full entry
Salone del Mobile Milan announced today that the 2020 edition of the anticipated event has been postponed to April 13-18, 2021. The Board of the Salone del Mobile made the decision in light of the coronavirus health crisis that continues to significantly impact countries across the globe. Back in... View full entry
When interacting virtually, miscommunication can run rampant. So much of our interpersonal interactions as humans are non-verbal. Communicating via Slack or digital chat completely takes that out. Not only do these method take out body language, but also verbal and tonal aspects. Authors of the... View full entry
The German federal government is stepping in with a sweeping aid package for the country’s creative and cultural sectors. The staggering €50 billion ($54 billion) in backing comes less than two weeks since Germany first made its promise of support.
The three-part package includes up to €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid for individuals who are self-employed as well as for small businesses. It will come in the form grants designed to help with overhead costs like venue rentals and artist studios.
— Artnet
According to Artnet, the funding will also support media enterprises, including newspapers. "We know the hardships, we know the desperation," said culture minister Monika Grütters in a statement. "The cultural sector in particular is characterized by a high proportion of self-employed people... View full entry
Social media's presence within architecture has invited firms to tap into a fast and responsive form of online exposure. The use of social media platforms like Instagram is a topic we've discussed widely on Archinect. However, during this time of self-quarantine, online sharing platforms are... View full entry
The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchise has purchased the Forum arena in Inglewood, California for $400 million as part of a plan to construct a new AECOM-designed basketball megaplex for the team next door to the existing complex. Previously on Archinect: “Plans... View full entry
In an effort to track the impacts, Earther assembled an interactive map to explore the changes in air pollution not just in the U.S. but globally. The map runs on Google Earth Engine and uses data collected by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite, which circles the Earth capturing various types of data. It includes four snapshots from December 2019 through March 20, 2020. The Sentinel satellite data shows nitrogen dioxide, which is a handy proxy for human activity. — Gizmodo
Brian Kahn and Dhruv Mehrotra of Earther highlight a recently launched pollution visualizer their team has assembled that highlights the stark changes in human activity across the world in the wake of COVID-19-imposed economic and social disruptions. The authors interview Barbara Dix... View full entry
This post is brought to you by the Van Alen Institute In light of the widespread disruption caused by the COVID-19 crisis, we have extended the submission deadline for Reimagining Brooklyn Bridge by two weeks. The new deadline is Sunday, April 19 by 11:59 pm ET. There is no requirement... View full entry
After being commissioned in 2016, OMA recently completed the sixth and largest location for upscale South Korean department store Galleria in Gwanggyo, a new town just south of Seoul. The building features multi-faceted glass protruding from a textured mosaic stone facade, which echoes the... View full entry
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) recently created a fun activity guide to help children who are stuck at home during nationwide quarantines due to COVID-19 social distancing. While many parents and guardians are adjusting to the changes these quarantines have made towards... View full entry
Archaeologists have unearthed about 70 mammoth-bone structures across Eastern Europe. But this one is the oldest on the Russian plain thought to be made by modern humans. Most of the previously identified structures were small, leading researchers to conclude they were most likely used as winter dwellings on a nearly treeless landscape. But the researchers said this circle was too large for a roof, which might suggest it was used for a different purpose. — NYT
Nicholas St. Fleur provides an update on what scientists and researchers have been learning from a 25,000-year-old mammoth-bone circle, first discovered in 2014, 300 miles south of Moscow. h/t @The Ice Age View full entry
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. [...]
“It will come in stages,” he said. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”
— USA Today
While the IOC has not responded directly to veteran member Dick Pound's statement from today, the Committee did signal its commitment to scenario-planning for "changes to the start date of the Games" yesterday amid new outbreaks of COVID-19 in IOC member countries. This development comes only days... View full entry
